Agreed. Tommy, Cust and Field need game time together as that's our strongest spine imo. Let them get a level of comfortability (in prep for the business end) and then look at switching.

Pointless having Singleton as a bench forward - he offers nowt in that respect, it would only ever be a steady the ship introduction. I've said elsewhere that for me he starts or isn't in the 17. FWIW I think he will be lucky to stay in the 17 if Havard can produce the type of form from before his first injury - Ellis, Byrne, Havard, and Mago would be up there with the best prop rotation in the league IMO if they can stay in relatively good form.

Weather looking pretty grim for tonight, any win will be a good win

Would have said that before the weather forecast.

Just about winning games at this stage and building on partnerships, working on little things etc.

Nah SkySportsLeedsRhinos don’t put our games on.

Just every single Leeds match until April!

In Cornwall visiting the missus family, so missed the game and sadly I thought it was on tv..doh.

Sounded a grinding win on the wireless and one that will probably do us a lot of good.

We didn’t play particularly well but Huddersfield pressed us really hard and for me played the game with a slightly faster tempo.
I expected a tough game and we got one.
I’m generally happy but we are a work in progress so not totally unexpected that we stuttered a bit.

Positives for me were Tommy, Farrell, Bateman slowly improving and KPP showed a couple of touches that were top class. Singleton worked particularly hard in his first stint.
One soft try but our defence again within our 20 metre area was strong and dogged.
Field was obviously well watched by a fast Huddersfield defence.

Very happy with 3 from 3 with Toulouse next.
Room for improvement but still a million miles away from last year.
I still think we need to increase our speed at ptb but I’m pretty confident that will improve as the season progresses.

Horrible conditions in the second half, proper winter rugby, happy to get the two points.
Maybe someone's had a word in Singleton's ear because to me that seemed a real step up from him on the two previous games, was worried when Cust went off in the first minute so glad to see him come back on.
On to next week when hopefully the weather will be a bit better

It’s really positive to win a game with Field nit hugely involved. I’ve just seen the try’s and Tommy looked really strong. The radio said Singleton had a very good game and that’s pleasing. He’s had a slow start but I was really happy with him last season. Those 30 metre games aren’t acceptable but he went up to 80,90,100 metres plus per game on a regular basis last season and that’s what we need. He cannot think his work is done now Ellis and Mago have come in.

Singleton had a better game, Ellis was strong , Isa had some errors with the ball, I thought Tommy was
MOM. The back line still a bit clunky but should improve. I agree with the ptb we were second best , we seemed to be dominated in a lot of tackles but we do seem to have a fitness edge.

Wigan v Huddersfield historically has rarely been pretty to watch and this was no different really.

Loved Farrell's first try from the flat ball by Leuluai and the KPP offload. It's been reported that NRL scouts were in the stands supposedly looking at Will Pryce but I imagine Kai would have caught the eye as well (fingers crossed we can keep hold).

Tommy Leuluai is having a hell of a start to the year - Toulouse might not be a bad time to give him a week off but then again that might be a shame given how well he's playing.

Tommy has looked like a different player so far this year. It's amazing what having a few options and runners can make to a half back.

Was impressed with Huddersfield, defended really well and with Fages/Levi could have caused us trouble.

Feared the worst when Cust when off, Field to 6, KPP to left Backrow, Bateman to right centre, Bibby to right wing, Farrell to right centre, Smithies to right back row, and Hardaker to FB.

What a mess, maybe Peet will consider Shorrocks/Smith on the bench next time for less changes.

Night and day from last year again, score line would have looked better if Faz and KPP hadn’t dropped it over the line.

Both of them had great games but Tommy was MoM for me.

We’re building, roll on next week.

I’m torn on a rest for Tommy. I was steadfast that Toulouse would be the game to rest him but when a lad is in top form it’s tough to change it up and rest him. I would ‘just’ give him the week off on balance, especially when you consider it’s
Catalans the following week but it’s close.

Smith, Miski and Shorrocks to get a chance for me in place of Tommy, Isa and Partington.

I appreciate Mago is going to be a fan favourite but for me Ellis is the kind of player we needed.

I’d rest Cust over Tommy to be honest, however I’d play them both.

Is that what we did? Wow! There has to be an easier answer than all that shuffling around.

That utility back on the bench is a very handy option. We used it after 10 mins at HKR and didn’t have it as an option after a couple of minutes tonight. He might not be a back but Shorrocks is extremely versatile and is surely a better bench option than Partington.

Having a player like Ellis allows us to have a player like Mago, if Havard comes back churning out 100m games then we're looking healthier than for quite a while prop wise

Definitely.

He's been good so far and seems to get better each week. Loved his dart for the line towards the end of the match.

When Havard returns & if Singleton can keep up tonight's performance, I'd love to see Ellis do more mins at 13. He seems to have a decent engine on him.

Mago will bring X-factor but I do think he could have arrived at Wigan a little fitter. Harsh perhaps but Ellis doing half an hour of good quality in his first stint is as you say just what we need and pleases me more than a Feka-esque 10-12 minutes off the bench.

It’s hard because I do think we need to give Smith a go and keep him involved. Another option would be to bring Smith in and move Cust (or Tommy) to hooker for the night.

We’ll see what happens but whatever that may be, I think this next two weeks will be positive for the side and for the season. Aren’t they going to French now and staying there for the next 10-14 days? I could be dreaming that but I thought I’d read that and if so, it’ll be an excellent opportunity to build relationships and team spirit.

I'd echo all that;especially the praise for Tommy. I didn't think he still had it in him, but he was very good tonight. I guess it wasn't until I walked out if the stadium, and got completely drenched walking to the car, that I realised how bad the conditions must have been in that second half. I had to cancel my 'drive to pub after game' plans in favour of, straight home, light the stove, and straight into the shower! Decent win, and once again, although in the first half and start of the second, we had to do a fair bit of defending, we looking like we might score a try or two when we got to their red zone. And we did. 10000+ crowd not bad in the weather, considering Hudds hardly bring any, and Leeds brought a fair few.

I thought Hardaker to full back Isa to centre Smithies to LF and Field to scrum half is what happened .

Yeah it was bizarre, after about 5 minutes KPP went back to RC, Bateman to Right back row and Smithies to left back row which made more sense.

Shorrocks could have come on a done an okay job at 9 with Powell going into the halves.

Whereas Partington can only play prop.

I breathed a sigh of relief when Cust returned, seeing Hardaker at fullback was an awful sight and reminded me of last year.


Cust is going well, like that he’s run first and has a good kicking game. Feel he’s only going to get better too.

Agreed in that Tommy was mom.
I must admit I didn’t think he still had it in him.
He’s the epitome of a top class club man. Loyal, hard working, team comes first. He must be a coaches dream.

I omitted commenting on the positives of Ellis which was wrong on my part. I thought he could be the signing rather than say Cust or Mago and he seems to be quietly going about his business and hopefully will develop into a top class 60 minute prop we have been waiting for.

Huddersfield with their first choice half backs would have been even more dangerous and will be nobody’s mug this season.